By TOM GARDNER, Associated Press Writer
June 22, 2003
SONOMA, Calif. (AP) -- Pit problems were the only thing that kept Boris Said and Ron Fellows from a possible victory Sunday in the Dodge/Save Mart 350.
Said and Fellows are two of the road racing specialists hired to drive Winston Cup cars at Infineon Raceway, one of two road circuits in the 36-race series.
Said started from the pole and finished sixth, while Fellows wound up seventh. Both led -- Said for the first lap and Fellows for 20 laps just past the midway point in the race -- but both lost ground in the pits.
``Our goal coming in was to get a top-10, but this car was better than that today. It was an easy top-three car,'' Said remarked. ``We got caught up with the yellow on the second pit stop. It came in the lap we were going to pit and that knocked us back to 26th instead of fourth or fifth.
``Had the yellow come 10 seconds later we would have been fighting for the win at the end.''
Said was driving for injured Jerry Nadeau. Fellows, third on the starting grid, was in for Jeff Green.
Two other road racers fared poorly. Johnny Miller, who took over the ride Mike Skinner had until he was fired, finished 24th. Scott Pruett, driving a fourth Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge entry, was 34th.
Within an hour, Pruett and Said were in Trans-Am cars, where they finished 1-2. On Saturday, Said was second in a Southwest Series event.
HARD SHIFTING
Hideo Fukuyama and Ricky Rudd will be nursing sore right hands for a few days. Both had the ball break off the top of their shifter at the start of Sunday's race.
``I was having a hard time,'' Fukuyama said. ``I was basically driving with the rod.''
Rudd said he raised several blisters on his hand during the 219-mile ride around the twisting road course.
``That didn't make things easy. That's not an excuse. It just hurt (a lot) all day,'' he said.
Rudd, who won here last year, also received some damage in a multicar pileup and finished 15th.
Fukuyama, who needed a lengthy pit stop to repair the differential, wound up in last place, 32 laps down.
JARRETT'S WOES
It was another in a series of miserable outings for Dale Jarrett, whose transmission broke on the 83rd of the 110 laps, sending him behind the wall for good.
It marked the sixth time in 16 races he has failed to finish.
GOOD, BAD FOR BENSON
Johnny Benson, one of the NASCAR drivers who just tolerates road courses, managed to move up from a 25th-place start to take the lead on lap 73.
He stayed up front for six laps and seemed headed for a Top 10 finish, but ran out of gas on the final lap.
SPEEDWAY CHILDREN
Dale Earnhardt was the big draw as the first ``Race-n-Rock'' charity auction at Infineon Raceway raised $65,240 for Speedway Children's Charities.
A commemorative toolbox, featuring a flip-up lithograph of the seven-time Winston Cup champion, netted $7,000. Two Dale Earnhardt tribute concert guitars -- each signed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- fetched $4,500 each.
FIVE MORE YEARS
Save Mart Supermarkets has signed a five-year agreement to continue as title sponsor of the Infineon.
The California-based grocery chain has been a sponsor of the event since 1992.
``NASCAR racing is a great marketing fit for us,'' company chairman Bob Piccinini said. ``Eighty percent of the team sponsors are companies that make the same products we carry in our stores.''
Updated on Sunday, Jun 22, 2003 10:41 pm EDT